Archive for: ‘December 2013’

Steve Augeri Miami Concert Review; at Magic City Casino

December 26, 2013 Posted by Frank M

Act: Steve Augeri Venue: Magic City Casino Date: December 21 2013

There was an interesting duality in the air last Saturday night at the Magic City Casino. Two identities snapped at each others’ neck: blaring rock music in English, and the kaleidoscope of Spanish Pop which is everyday and standard at the venue. This and the sounds of grinding machinery from the caravan of food trucks in the parking lot made the scene for Steve Augeri ‘s Miami concert.

The dog-track slash casino opened up it’s on-the-track stage, facing the grandstands. It gave it a feeling of a very compact outdoor festival. It wasn’t filled up, this old Flagler Dog Track hasn’t seen that in generations, but the first three sections closest to the stage were packed. On the track itself, immediately in front of the stage was a section of seats on sale for $70. What little space was behind these seats was available for the free general admission crowd. All walks of life came out; families with young children in black tees; middle aged dudes in collared shirts; dead ringers for Bret Michaels who never sold out; a guy with a shaved head and an impressive scalp tattoo that made his new hairline, including pork chops; and hot rocker girls who couldn’t possibly have been alive when Journey was big.

Augeri and band came out to the thumping Chain Reaction, a foot stomping bit that struck all the right balance of guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, and that voice. That voice of Augeri that has carried him in his career to front a handful of memorable acts. None as far-reaching as that near decade with Journey. Didn’t take long to get into their long discography, and for the most-part stay there. Stone in Love was the second song, again the band showcasing their ability to mix that heavy thunder and sing-a-long choruses that made the mainstream-melodic-metal of the 80s a fascinating creature in time and of it’s time.

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Categories: Entertainment, Random Things, Stuff To Do

Deadline Day problems with HealthCare.GOV

December 23, 2013 Posted by Frank M

Log-in to HealthCare.Gov

It’s easy to beat a dead website- to stomp around it’s 404 pages and polite apology screens. So we won’t. Except to post a screen shot from the much vilified website on deadline day, telling you to wait because “HealthCare.Gov has a lot of visitors right now!” If one didn’t want to stick around while the page refreshed it self to see if you could log in, there was an option to type in your email, and they would drop you a line as to when the coast was cleared.

Newshole[DOT]Info sat on the screen for a bit in the late afternoon, coffee in hand and obviously not much going on. We randomly got in. The apology screen turned into the actual website. We logged in and tried to hit the market place. Running pretty smoothly for a time, we were asked what exactly we planned to file income-tax wise. This thing seems be fixed! Aaaaand just as we were going to the Florida options, it crashed. At least for us.

Kill Screen. (And not the fun Donkey Kong kind.)

We are not sure what kind of creature wouldn’t expect this; the website is famous for its’ inability to handle large volumes of traffic, and today is the day the procrastinating levee breaks; the last day.

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Categories: Florida Legislature, MIAMI-DADE, NATIONAL, Original

State Rep. David Richardson Opines on the Miami Beach Convention Center

December 23, 2013 Posted by Frank M

Photo via State of Florida


Editor’s Note: This article was also submitted to the Miami SunPost. They incorrectly credited the byline to their Film Critic and not author FRANK MARADIAGA. A link will be posted when the problem is corrected.

State Representative David Richardson opines on the Convention Center; warns of a Miami coup. By Frank Maradiaga

In his first public commentary on the future of the Miami Beach Convention Center, State Representative David Richardson made it clear to the new City Commission that he was “very very supportive” of a “world class” facility in the city.

The legislator broke his silence at the first real meeting presided by the vastly different dais, who rode into power by promising the opposite of their predecessors but have yet to address what they will do with the ancient center.

“I want to say publicly that I am very very supportive of Miami Beach having a convention center that is world class, and that will be state of the art,” Richardson said.

He says he has kept quiet and resisted endorsing or supporting any project out of respect to the city’s officials, and the work they were elected to do. Additionally he is not “wedded” to any contractor or contract and has faith in the city’s leadership to hammer that out.

However, there was a sense of urgency in his statement, a warning against stalling in a project famous for false starts and no gos.

“I do think that , we have been for 11 years in this community talking about getting it done, and 11 years is too long,” said Richardson. “And I think if we are not able to get something done, the conversation is going to shift to Downtown Miami.”
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Categories: Florida Legislature, MIAMI BEACH

Fake bombs over Miami Beach

December 20, 2013 Posted by Frank M

Miami Beach Police responded to two false bomb threats today.

The first one involved a homeowner who thought he found a live grenade in box in his garage. The area of 44th Street and Royal Palm Avenue was blocked off for hours as police worked the scene.

According to a report by WSVN, a police dog offered a faulty positive read on the package.

“We immediately cordoned off the area to vehicular and pedestrian traffic,” said PIO Bobby Hernandez to the television station.

Ultimately it turned out to be a novelty toy.

At the Astor Hotel, someone called in a bomb threat. Nothing was found.

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Categories: MIAMI BEACH, Uncategorized

Justine Sacco’s AIDS tweet turns the internet-world against her while she is totally off grid

December 20, 2013 Posted by Frank M

Random Commentary

This is an amazing tweet:

Yes,it’s racist, vile, insensitive, ironic, and everything else the internet has to say. It’s also an amazing set of circumstances:

A PR head-honcho for some recognizable brands (OkCupid, Vimeo, Dictionary.com, The Daily Beast) sends out a time-bomb that detonates as she is incommunicado on a long international flight.

The internet-world turns on her, and the propagandist wizard can’t conjure up a defense.

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Categories: NATIONAL, Random Things

State Rep. David Richardson’s remarks on the MBCC

December 18, 2013 Posted by Frank M

State Rep. David Richardson addressed the City Commission on Dec. 11, the following are his remarks on the Miami Beach Convention Center:

The convention center, over the last year I’ve been very quiet about that because I am very very respectful that I am a state representative and I was not elected to be a commissioner or a mayor. I’ve sent my staff to keep me informed. I was not endorsing or supporting either project that was before this project that was before this body.
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Categories: MIAMI BEACH

Flying Spaghetti Monster soars over Florida’s State Capitol

December 18, 2013 Posted by Frank M


Photo from wiki commons.

It’s one of those feel good holiday stories of religious tolerance. This one comes with a spaghetti monster.

A display went up at the Florida State Capital this week depicting the pseudo-God of Pastafarians everywhere, namely The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Typically portrayed by followers as a caboodle of spaghetti noodles with big googly eyes, the display at the capital is a collection of shredded cardboard strips on top of a red chair.  Googly eyes included. There is also a sign which reads: ” A closed mouth catches no noodly appendages.”- ProvHerb 3:27″

Beautiful. Profound. Serious.

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Peter Wood, an FSU student, applied for the display.

“It’s OK for us to have different views in society and I think it’s important to realize there are more than one way to view things,”Wood told the newspaper.

Followers of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are called Pastafarians if you didn’t already know, and the pasta puns are aplenty.

One lovable slogan says “he boiled for your sins” and usually accompanies a picture of the big FSM in the sky cutely caught in a spaghetti drainer.

The church’s official texts are very satirical and read tongue in cheek, but they maintain that they are a “real religion.”

Joining the religion is incredibly easy according to the church’s website; if you think it, you are.

“So you want to be a Pastafarian? Great. Consider yourself a member. You’ll notice there’s no hoops to jump through. You don?t need to pay anything,?” it says in it’s joining section.

The FSM is mostly associated with atheists and the secular- all around the web one can find nifty artwork and memorabilia.

This display follows the placing of a Festivus Pole made of empty beer cans at the capital. Festivus is a fake holiday created by television character Frank Constanza from Seinfeld, when he became frustrated with the commercialism of the holidays. This display however, came with a sobering “separation of church and state” message.

Watch out Red-Florida, the atheists are coming for Baby Jesus.

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Categories: Around FLA, Florida Legislature

Miami Beach will look into Trolley system for Alton Road

December 11, 2013 Posted by Frank M

The Miami Beach City Commission asked the administration to look into a trolley that would operate through Alton Road during the year-long construction; the hope being that the system would bring much needed traffic to Alton Road businesses who have seen a decline.

City Manager Jimmy Morales said he would look into it, and bring a possible contract to the January commission meeting.

Initially the route was planned to go up and down the desolated artery of commerce of Alton, but some interjected that it should go down south of fifth.

The grander the route, presumably the more expensive it should get.

The commission also spit-balled other ways they could help those businesses including giving away free advertising in the city’s publications. Another idea was to waive city fees, but those applicable would be of minimum help.

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Categories: MIAMI BEACH

Mindy’s Micro-Menu – Cookie Pizza

December 1, 2013 Posted by mindy

image

Mindy’s Micro-Menu – Cookie Pizza

Editor’s note: Mindy is a dedicated elementary school teacher, children ministry director, involved in after school programs, a staunch volunteer for various causes, and cooks most of her meals; she doesn’t have time for fluff or long word counts. Just the heart of the beast.

This week: Cookie Pizza

A little too much of the fake sugar after taste, but it’s pretty good

_Mindy

This week’s recipe from: http://asweetlife.org/recipes/cookie-pizza/

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Categories: Entertainment, Mindy's Micro Menu, Stuff To Do